New Rifles, Old Rifles

It’s About Time

But once our time traveler got hold of a hunting rifle, he’d feel right at home. One such time traveler, Mike from Wisconsin, showed up at my farm recently, dazed and confused about suddenly being transported 75 years into the future. Coffee got him functioning again and as hunters will, we began discussing guns and hunting. Mike had recently purchased a new .30-’06 Remington 721 and used it on a successful deer hunt. The 721/722 series evolved into the tremendously successful and popular model 700, which remains a best seller to this day.

When I showed Mike my model 700 stainless SPS, handling it was second nature for him, no surprise as it was basically the same as his 721. Bolt operation, safety location, loading and unloading; even the trigger pull was much the same. He was puzzled a bit by the cartridge designation — “.243, never heard of it. I suppose the .30-’06 is long since obsolete?” Well no, actually not. “You’re still using cartridges with powder and primers? I thought you’d be using ray guns by now.”

“No, ray guns never really caught on, too expensive. Except with the military.”

Mike was surprised. “You do have flying cars though, right?”

“Of course. I’d give you a ride in mine but it’s in the shop right now getting the flux capacitor repaired.”

Mike said, “Let’s get back to the rifle. Are you saying this current hunting rifle is mechanically identical to my rifle of 75 years ago?”
“Not quite. They added a groove in one of the locking lugs to ride a lip in the receiver for smoother bolt operation. And they changed the trigger about half a dozen times. Go ahead and dry fire it if you want, I don’t mind.”

Mike aimed the rifle at a nearby hill and tried the trigger. “Not bad, almost as good as the trigger on my 721. But seriously, you’re still using the same basic rifle design from 75 years ago? I know hunters and shooters are traditionalists by nature but this is ridiculous.”

I started to talk about laser rangefinders, CAD/CAM manufacturing, scopes with dependable and repeatable adjustments. But Mike said nope, those don’t count, only changes in the rifle itself.